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Wed 21 Sep, 2011 01:57 am
Quote:Congregations are also having hard times financially, the survey found. In 2000, 31% of survey participants reported excellent financial health. In 2010, that number plummeted to just 14%.
The recession, Roozen writes in the report, "affected nearly every kind of congregation equally – large and small; north, south, east and west; financially healthy or struggling before the recession. One bit of good news was that one in 10 congregations reported that by the time of the survey, they had already begun to recover."
Roozen writes that a variety of factors led to the decline, but overall, there are fewer Americans in the pews, and "... more than 1 in 4 American congregations had fewer than 50 in worship in 2010, and just under half had fewer than 100. Overall, median weekend worship attendance of your typical congregation dropped from 130 to 108 during the decade, according to the FACT surveys.
http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2011/09/20/a-rough-decade-for-american-congregations/?&hpt=hp_c2
Me no, the family used to go and I would sometimes join but they dont go anymore. In a decade US population went up 9.7% and church attendance went down 17%....that is quite amazing that we see this much change in this short of time.
I just started going to a Unitarian church. I wanted a 'family' of like-minded persons. I enjoy hearing the 'sermon' each week - the insights of moral leaders from the present and the past, rationality, and personal insight. I also agree with its inclusive invitation.
Now . . . the beautiful church building is starting to fall apart. Past church leaders did not perform upkeep on such things as the roof, cememt work, etc. So there is now a capital campaign starting to make repairs and establish a 'reserve fund' for future repairs. So that ugly issue of money comes up.
Maybe that's another reason why people don't go to church. They are asked for $$ to sustain it.
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